On Thursday, Bay Pines VA Healthcare System officially welcomed Ms. Shanel Kelly as the new Chief of Center for Development & Civic Engagement (CDCE), formerly known as Voluntary Service. Ms. Kelly joins the healthcare system from the Dayton VA Medical Center in Ohio, where she served as a voluntary service specialist and the acting CDCE chief. In addition to her voluntary service experience, Ms. Kelly has more than 20 years of experience in health care as a licensed practical nurse, rehabilitation health technician, and social services associate.  Ms. Kelly joined the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in 2009, where she worked in a variety of mental health rehabilitation programs. She was exposed to the collaborative mission of CDCE while supporting Veteran rehabilitation and treatment programs like HUD-VASH and outreach to homeless Veterans, among others. This collaboration between clinical programs and CDCE fueled her inspiration and dedication to Veterans. In 2022, she transitioned full time to support CDCE at the Dayton VA Medical Center. Ms. Kelly obtained her licensed practical nurse certification in 2000, and she earned a Bachelor of Science in business management of information systems in 2014. She is currently pursuing a Master of Science in health informatics. Bay Pines VA CDCE currently has 519 volunteers. Last year, volunteers donated more than 63K hours in support of Veterans, and thanks to the generosity of great partnerships, including multiple Veteran Service Organizations, and in-kind donations, CDCE accepted donations totaling more than $776K. 

To learn more, visit